The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864
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The Carter farm office is a wood frame structure. The Carter smokehouse is a brick building and sits beside the office. The Carter outdoor kitchen is a smaller brick structure. All received a lot of damage from bullet-fire during the Battle of Franklin.
In the past several years, the Battle of Franklin Trust has added numerous interpretive signs or markers around the Carter grounds. Click on individual images to enlarge.
Source below (GPT)
The Carter farm and grounds played a crucial role in the Battle of Franklin, which took place on November 30, 1864, during the American Civil War. The farm, owned by the Carter family, was situated south of the town of Franklin, Tennessee, and encompassed strategic positions that became focal points of intense fighting and critical decision-making during the battle.
The Carter house itself, a two-story brick structure, served as a key Confederate command post during the battle. General John Bell Hood, leading the Confederate Army of Tennessee, established his headquarters in the Carter house and used it as a central location to coordinate his forces. The elevated vantage point from the house allowed Hood and his staff to observe the battlefield and issue orders accordingly.
The farm’s open fields and surrounding terrain also became a battleground of immense significance. The Confederate forces, under Hood’s command, launched a series of desperate assaults against the fortified Union positions held by General John M. Schofield. The fighting was fierce and brutal, with Confederate soldiers repeatedly charging across the open ground in an attempt to break the Union lines.
One notable feature of the Carter farm was a simple rail fence that served as a makeshift defensive barrier for the Union troops. Known as the “Cotton Gin Line,” this fence provided some protection for the Union soldiers, who were outnumbered and under intense pressure from the Confederate attacks. The defense of the Carter farm became a focal point of the Union resistance, with soldiers fighting tenaciously to hold their ground.
The Battle of Franklin was one of the deadliest engagements of the Civil War, and the Carter farm witnessed intense violence and loss of life. The strategic significance of the farm and its surroundings, combined with the determination of both Confederate and Union forces, made it a critical focal point of the battle.
Today, the Carter house and the Carter farm are preserved as part of the Carter House State Historic Site in Franklin, Tennessee. Visitors can explore the grounds, tour the historic house, and gain a deeper understanding of the events that unfolded there. The site stands as a testament to the sacrifices made by soldiers on both sides and the enduring legacy of the Battle of Franklin.
Located just fifteen miles south of Nashville, Franklin held a strategic position in the Union’s line of communications and supplies as well as defense. To secure the Union garrison at Franklin, the army constructed fortifications on surrounding hilltops throughout the area, including a signal station at Roper’s Knob. The site served as an important communication post with visibility of six miles in all directions in the Harpeth River Valley. The fortifications at Roper’s Knob were constructed between April 19 and May 29, 1863. Approximately 5,000 men accomplished the operation. Each day two reliefs of 600 men worked eight-hour shifts until the work was complete. Captain William E. Merrill, U.S. Topographical Engineer, supervised the construction of the Franklin defenses. Upon its completion, Roper’s Knob had a redoubt for four heavy guns, inside which was a blockhouse that could hold sixty men. The fortifications also contained two 4,500-gallon cisterns and a large magazine. Merrill boasted that the site was so secure that “fifty men could hold it against 5,000.”
Well fortified, the signal station at Roper’s Knob relayed important communications to fortifications in Triune to the east and LaVergne to the northeast, and then to Nashville. Signal stations were important to the Union military effort as they transmitted information regarding the movement of Confederate troops to Union officers. Communications proved especially important during the 1864 campaign of Confederate General John Bell Hood through Middle Tennessee. It is unclear whether artillery was arranged at Roper’s Knob in defense of the Confederate mission, but records indicate that it was a possibility. The October 1, 1864 communications of Assistant Adjutant-General B.H. Polk to Major General Rousseau state, “I send down to Franklin this evening two 3-inch Parrots and 400 rounds of ammunition. Shall any guns go upon Roper’s Knob, or shall all go in the large fort?”
Following the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, Roper’s Knob, along with the other Franklin fortifications, was abandoned by the retreating Federal army. After the Union victory at the Battle of Nashville in mid-December, Roper’s Knob was again reoccupied by Federal forces until the end of the war. The outer entrenchment and redoubt at Roper’s Knob remain clearly discernible and well defined, and have only experienced natural erosion. The high peak, with its commanding view of the surrounding valley, combined with the high integrity of the earthworks, conveys a strong sense of its historical period.
Today the 22-acre summit is owned by the State of Tennessee, and 36 acres of the south face was recently given to the City by the Heritage Foundation. An archaeological survey has been conducted by the State, but no interpretive plan has been prepared. The property is not open to the public, although Save The Franklin Battlefield (STFB) has gained permission to lead tours to the summit on several occasions.
Text credit: Franklin Battlefield Preservation Plan, n.d., p. 49
The Tennessee and Alabama Railroad Freight Depot was constructed ca. 1858 by the Tennessee and Alabama Railroad Company shortly after it built its line through Franklin. The brick freight depot was constructed near the busy intersection of South Margin Street and Second Avenue, South in a rectangular design common among antebellum depots in Middle Tennessee. These structures were typically one-story buildings of brick construction, with thick walls and a broad overhanging gable roof. Built for the purpose of shipping and receiving freight, the building had an open floor plan with the northern end of the building reserved for office space. Freight doors were located on either side of the building leading to the track and loading areas for easy transfer of goods.
Soon after Union forces occupied Middle Tennessee in 1862, railroads were utilized as vital links in moving troops and supplies through the region. During the war years, the freight depot in Franklin would have been a busy hub of activity as supplies and munitions were shipped along the rail line. The depot was likely one of many buildings in the community converted into a temporary hospital following the Battle of Franklin, as local historians have reported. The freight depot also continued to house ammunition during this time, and Confederate troops attempted to burn the building as they scrambled to evacuate Franklin on December 18, 1864.
Historian Wiley Sword notes that “at the last minute, Lee’s men set fire to the freight house in town, a building containing seven wagonloads of ammunition.” Fortunately a devastating explosion was avoided as a citizen rushed to throw buckets of water on the blazing roof. Following the return of the Union army to Franklin, immediate efforts were made to evacuate the wounded to Union army hospitals in Nashville. A history of the U.S. Army Medical Department records notes: “Trains evacuated all the wounded from Franklin and other communities back to Nashville as soon as they were in a condition to be moved and the track had been repaired.” After the Civil War, the Tennessee and Alabama Railroad Freight Depot went back to its original purpose as a shipping and receiving facility.
Text source: Franklin Battlefield Preservation Plan, n.d.
Download the site plan (PDF).
The Battle of Franklin, November 30, 1864 